


Ice-White and Goal-Red

by MeansToOffend (goodmorning)



Series: 31 in 31: NHL Fairy Tales [27]
Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Fairy Tale Retellings, Florida Panthers, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-01
Updated: 2017-10-01
Packaged: 2019-01-07 11:20:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,042
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12231780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/goodmorning/pseuds/MeansToOffend
Summary: There was once a poor goalie who lived alone in the basement of a rink with two young men from Quebec. Their names were Jonny and Mike, but most everyone who knew them called them Ice-White and Goal-Red, for Jonny was as pale as the ice of the rink and Mike’s hair as red as the goalposts.





	Ice-White and Goal-Red

There was once a poor goalie who lived alone in the basement of a rink with two young men from Quebec. Their names were Jonny and Mike, but most everyone who knew them called them Ice-White and Goal-Red, for Jonny was as pale as the ice of the rink and Mike’s hair as red as the goalposts. But they were good young men, very well-behaved, who always helped Lu maintain the ice and played pickup games with him whenever he asked.

In fact, they often played at hockey, even just against each other, and at times would simply fall asleep on the benches, exhausted. Lu never worried about them, for he knew they would do this. Once when they had slept thus, they awoke to see a man in goalie gear smiling gently at them, but he was gone by the time they managed to disentangle themselves from their blankets. Lu knew, of course, that this was simply one of his goalie friends, but to Ice-White and Goal-Red he said that it must have been the angel that watches over hockey players, just so he could see their disgusted faces.

The two young men played hockey so well it was a beauty to behold, and when they were finished of an evening they turned to their chores. For Goal-Red could clean the ice until it gleamed smooth, and Ice-White was something of an accomplished cook. Each night after these tasks were accomplished, Lu made sure the back door was bolted, and the three of them settled down to dinner by their roaring fire.

It was on one such night that there came a knock at the door. Lu answered, thinking it might be someone in need of directions, but when he opened the door he found not a man but a large and tawny panther. Ice-White grabbed his hockey stick, and Goal-Red shouted, “Get back!”, but both the panther and Lu remained frozen.

Then the panther spoke. “I am not here to hurt you. I want only to be warm.”

“Well, come on in then,” said Lu, stepping aside.

“Lu, what the fuck? That’s a panther!” cried Goal-Red, and Ice-White brandished his hockey stick threateningly.

“So?” said Lu. “He says he means no harm, and I believe him.”

And indeed, the panther simply lay by the fire and did not bother them. Gradually they became used to his presence, and even trusted him enough to pet his ears and ask him questions he mostly refused to answer.

In the morning they let him out, and thought that would be the last they saw of him, but the next day he was back, with another panther, and the next, and the next. Soon the two were worked into their routine, and would play hockey with Ice-White and Goal-Red, and though they would say little about their pasts, they did eventually divulge names. The first panther, slightly bigger, was known as Barky, and the second panther, slightly redder, refused to respond to any name but Tippy.

Barky and Tippy continued to come by until spring. One day, however, Barky pinned his ears back and said, “We must leave tomorrow. The Commissioner will be out of hibernation, and we must defend our treasures from him, for he steals all he can find.” Ice-White and Goal-Red sighed, but sent each panther off with a kiss on the nose, and pretended not to cry when they were out of sight.

The next day Lu sent the young men out to get firewood, for they had run low in warming the panthers through the long winter. Almost at once they came across a small man fishing in a stream, but he was so tangled up in his line that the fish he had caught was about to pull him in. Alarmed, Ice-White and Goal-Red hastened to drag him out.

The man turned to them, gremlin face red. “What did you do that for? Now I have to start fishing all over again! I wish you two had never come here!” And he picked up a bag of treasure from the reeds, and vanished downstream.

The two shrugged, and kept going, and eventually found a perfect tree, which they felled with ease. As they began to chop it up, though, they heard a shouting. Looking around, they saw the man from the river about to be carried off by a giant eagle, so they ran over and pulled him from the bird’s grip.

“What did you do that for?” demanded the man, when he got his breath back. “Now my suit is all full of holes!” And he again picked up a bag of treasure and ran off.

Ice-White and Goal-Red finished chopping and bundling the wood, and began to carry it home to Lu, when they passed a stone on which were laid out many precious gems, which were beautiful to behold. They were about to move on when the small man appeared and began to shout at them once more, but they paid no real attention until two growls sounded from behind them.

“Hello, gracious panthers!” stammered out the man. “Please, take this treasure and these youths, I’m no good to eat.”

The panthers did not reply, however, simply dispatching the small man with a blow to the head each before turning to the young men. They were about to run away, though the panthers looked both quick and hungry, when the larger of the two spoke. “Wait, Ice-White and Goal-Red!” he said, and the two of them recognised the voice as Barky’s. 

When they turned to look, however, the panthers had been replaced by two tall and handsome men, dressed in gold and red and blue. “We’re princes,” Tippy said, “who were bewitched by the Commissioner to be panthers until his death released us from the curse. He’s actually called Sasha and I’m actually called Owen, though of course,” he said to Goal-Red with a wink, “you can call me anything you like.”

“Oh,” said Ice-White, and the four of them returned to the basement of the rink with the wood and the treasure. Ice-White eventually married Sasha, and Goal-Red eventually married Owen, and the four of them (and Lu) lived happily for many years thereafter.

**Author's Note:**

> \- Snow-White and Rose-Red is the story referenced here. This was actually one of my buffer stories, but originally one of the characters was Jason Demers, who has now been traded because Chayka is a brilliant thief.  
> \- That said, _Gingerbread House forever_.  
> -Mike Matheson was born in Quebec. This is a true fact.


End file.
